Laughing it off? Bachelorette alum Garrett Yrigoyen joked about having a conversation with Mother Teresa after facing backlash for supporting police officers amid nationwide Black Lives Matter protests.
“I just got off the phone with Mother T,” the former reality TV star, 31, wrote via Instagram on Thursday, June 18. “She wanted me to share this one with you all today… ‘People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. FORGIVE THEM ANYWAY. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. BE KIND ANYWAY. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. SUCCEED ANYWAY.'”
The California native continued in the voice of the late Nobel Peace Prize winner: “‘If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. BE HONEST AND SINCERE ANYWAY. What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. CREATE ANYWAY. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. BE HAPPY ANYWAY. The good you do today, will often be forgotten. DO GOOD ANYWAY. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. GIVE YOUR BEST ANYWAY. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.’ – Mother Theresa.”
Yrigoyen, who got engaged to Becca Kufrin on season 14 of The Bachelorette in 2018, caused a stir within Bachelor Nation for posting a lengthy message about the Thin Blue Line two days after participating in “Blackout Tuesday” in support of black lives. “We can’t judge the peaceful protesters by the actions of the few violent protesters, and we sure can’t judge all cops by the actions of a few bad ones,” he wrote via Instagram on June 4.
His fiancée, 30, addressed the controversial comments shortly afterward in a tearful conversation with her “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast cohost, Rachel Lindsay. When Lindsay, 35, called Yrigoyen out, Kufrin defended him while also admitted she didn’t “align with” his statement.
“Garrett is my fiancé and I love him and to his core, I believe that he is a good person,” she told Lindsay. “I do think it was tone deaf and it was the wrong time and message and sentiment. … I’m trying to get him to see the bigger picture.”
One week later, the Minnesota native admitted that she was unsure about her future with Yrigoyen and apologized to her cohost for the way she handled their difficult conversation.
“I want to say to our listeners out there — because I’m sure many will hear this back and wonder and ask and have opinions — for those who are curious about my relationship with Garrett at this point, all I can say right now is I don’t know,” Kufrin said on Tuesday, June 16. “I can’t give anything more than that. It’s something that we are trying to work through and discuss and do work on at home at this time and that’s where the work will remain and that’s really the best I can give you at this point.”
